Dennis Gregg

1943 - 2024

Dennis Gregg
03/07/1943 - 04/21/2024
Dennis Richard Gregg, 81, died on April 21, 2024, in San Francisco, with his wife, Thoa Thi Kim Nguyen-Gregg, and a lifelong friend in attendance.
Dennis was born in Coalinga, Calif., on March 7, 1943, to the late Anne R. Gregg and George R. Gregg. He grew up in the Sunset District of San Francisco, graduated from Lawton Elementary School, A. P. Giannini Junior High, and George Washington High School. He went on to U.C. Berkeley where he graduated with high honors in history, earning a Phi Beta Kappa key in the process. He hung his Phi Beta Kappa key from a laundry room string pull light switch. Pretentious Dennis was not. He followed his Berkeley education with a master's degree in history from Harvard University.
In multiple ways Dennis was a larger-than-life personality. He had an active mind and a quick wit and was always ready with a one liner or a double entendre. He loved to argue, particularly political issues and ideologies. Heated arguments were often followed by a few beers and pretzels.
Dennis was a lifelong social justice activist who never failed to challenge systems of oppression. He was a generous donor to causes of social change and to the individuals at the forefront of social change.
"Mr. Gregg" taught in the San Francisco Unified School District for nearly 40 years. He began his career teaching social studies at Pelton Junior High in the Bayview and then moved on to George Washington High School, where he taught for most of his career. At "Wash" he became head of the social studies department and was repeatedly elected and reappointed to that position. Dennis put great effort into building a really great social studies department at Wash. He used that position to recruit talented new teachers, to mentor them and to help shape their practice. Several of his colleagues noted that he was "very supportive of innovation" by the others in the department as well. In addition to teaching and directing the department, Dennis also initiated and taught AP Economics. His students performed remarkably successfully on the AP Economics exams.
In the wider community of SFUSD teachers, Dennis was an active member of the United Educators of San Francisco and its predecessor, the San Francisco American Federation of Teachers (AFL/CIO). For many years he was the union building representative at Washington. He was the strike captain at both Pelton and Washington when union teachers struck the school district over conditions.
Dennis traveled the U.S. and the world extensively, often with organized groups that made the travels more educational and meaningful. He met Thoa, his wife of 10 years, on one of his trips to Vietnam.
No matter how beautiful or fascinating the places of his travels, Dennis always loved San Francisco best. He enjoyed sharing the city with Thoa, and they regularly took walks through neighborhoods all over the city and surrounds.
Through San Francisco City Guides, Dennis frequently conducted free organized tours of Chinatown and Noe Valley. He also volunteered as a docent at the Asian Art museum, where he was also a storyteller for groups of adults and children.
Dennis Gregg is survived by his wife, Thoa; and his brother, Kevin Gregg of Osaka, Japan. Dennis frequently told his friends that his 10 years married to Thoa were "the best 10 years of my life."
No memorial service is planned. Those wishing to honor Dennis's memory are asked to make contributions in his name to San Francisco's Asian Art Museum, https://asianart.org